German Memories - Kaiser William II & His "Love-Hate" Relationship With Great Britain

The German Empire without Bismarck had started to experience a general lack of coherence and consistency in the foreign policy issues towards other powers. William's "love-hate" relationship with Great Britain and in particular with his British cousins further made chaos in the consistency of foreign policy while the elite had their own agenda and further messed foreign affairs.

William never had in mind an open armed conflict with Britain or never even imagined it, but his general anti-British sentiments, which arose within him from his youth by his own prejudices, reflected among the elite of the German government and created further confusion.

William's prejudices towards Britain made him to believe when war came about in 1914, his late uncle Edward VII trapped him into a diplomatic mess by the British attempts to encircle Germany under the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and with Russia in 1907. He was unrealistic about the constitutional set-up in Britain and believed that his late uncle had a say on British foreign policy.

This mental paranoia made him to give importance to personal diplomacy with his British cousins to shape British - German relations where they had no power at all. Through Queen Victoria, William was a first cousin to many of the crowned heads in Europe most notably George V of the United Kingdom and Nicholas II of Russia through his consort, the Empress Alexandra.

Kaiser William II, the first grandchild of Queen Victoria had lasting affection from the British Public as he was at his maternal grandmother's deathbed, holding her in his arms as she passed away. But his immature political and diplomatic blunders spoiled that in the coming years.

William gave importance to his personal appearance and emotions than to his statesmanship. He had a vast collection of uniforms and costumes and used to wear different ones for each occasion, often four or more a day and was treated as a joke, saying that when eating plum pudding the emperor would dress as a British Admiral, the honorary rank he had been awarded by his grandmother in 1889.